[3] In the 19th century, especially referring to the battle that occurred on 23 November 1847 during the Sonderbund War or sometimes the battle of 5 June 1653 during the Swiss peasant war of 1653, the town was often (erroneously) called Gislikon.

Of the rest of the land, 24.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.5%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Of the agricultural land, 46.85% is used for farming or pastures, while 2.7% is used for orchards or vine crops.

Of the settled areas, 13.51% is covered with buildings, 2.7% is industrial, 0.9% is classed as special developments, and 8.11% is transportation infrastructure.

[7] The municipality is located in the Reuss valley on the old highway between Lucerne and Zürich.

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (92.3%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.5%) and French being third ( 1.2%).

In the 2000 census[update] the religious membership of Gisikon was; 585 (69.1%) were Roman Catholic, and 146 (17.2%) were Protestant, with an additional 14 (1.65%) that were of some other Christian faith.